Introduction
This is an interesting comparison – I guess they all are, in one form or another – of a new high-end device from the Chinese company, Meizu, going up against the venerable HTC One M8. The one thing to realize is the Meizu MX4 that we are looking at is a very high-end device at a very reasonable price and that ‘Chinese’ combination is hard to beat, especially when its competition, the HTC One M8 has been out for a while and may be showing some little signs of wear and tear.
Both of these devices are beautiful and well-made and both have rounded sides that make holding the devices a pure joy. The HTC One M8 is an all-metal design and the Meizu MX4 has a metal frame and buttons, but a soft-to-touch material on the back – allowing for a nice, firm grip – something the many M8 users cannot experience without a case. And talk about bezels, the MX4’s display goes almost side-to-side…some of the slimmest we have ever seen.
Let’s just say that other than the displays and the 2GBs of RAM, these two devices share very little in specifications – we are not saying one necessarily has better specs than the other, but the parts and pieces they use to achieve the same end is quite a bit different. Please take a look at the detailed specifications listed below and see exactly where these two excellent smartphones differ and then we will take a closer look at them on an individual basis and try and pick a winner in this comparison.
Specifications
Meizu MX4
The Meizu MX4 is very popular in China, selling millions when first announced, and it is one of the new Chinese flagships that deserves our attention – the high quality and reasonable price make it a tough combination to beat. The 5.4-inch Full HD display is slightly larger than the 5-inch found on the HTC One M8, yet it’s packed in a somewhat shorter device – mainly because HTC had to find room for its dual front facing speakers. We can argue all day about Qualcomm versus the MediaTek processors, but suffice it to say that the octa-core model clocked at 2.2GHz is no slouch and the MX4 is as smooth and fast as its closest competition. The MX4 does suffer in the internal storage area, offering a 16GB and 64GB model with no microSD card slot for expansion, unlike the M8.
One place that the MX4 shines is the camera area – Meizu chose to use a Sony 20.7MP main camera with auto focus and dual-LED flash, that certainly beats out the camera on the M8, Duo Camera or not. Both devices have a nice 5MP front-facing camera (FFC) for an excellent video chatting experience as well as great selfies. The MX4 also put in a nice sized 3100mAh battery compared to the small 2600mAh in the M8.
As far as features go, it does sport a bottom mounted speaker and a rather strange 5:3 aspect ratio that makes the display a little wider than usual – great for more reading room on the display. They both have an FM Radio although the M8 does have an IR Blaster over the MX4, if you consider that a plus. It runs Android 4.4.4 KitKat with their Flyme 4.0 UI…that is a lot like Apple’s iOS…some people like it and others are not fond of it. The price, including shipping, is $449 online, off-contract.
HTC One M8
We all know the HTC One M8 by now and it is loved by many for its all-metal design and front-facing dual stereo BoomSound speakers, which are argumentatively the best smartphone speakers on the market. It was an evolutionary follow-up to the popular HTC One M7 from 2012 – not much changed, so it faces some of the problems with the original – like the camera, for instance. HTC chose to keep the same 4MP UltraPixel affair of the M7, which was a decent camera, but is still not to par with the more sophisticated cameras coming out on its competition. Instead of better the main camera, they chose to add a second, or Duo Camera, not to help in picture quality, but to add depth and special effects to your photos…a nice idea, but it cannot compare to the Sony 20.7MP camera found in the MX4.
Because the M8 was out before the rest of the usual flagship devices, HTC had to use a variation on the Snapdragon 800 processor, not the final 801 that came along a later, but still an excellent processor and some would argue is better than a MediaTek any day. However, this is the new Octa-Core version clocked at 2.2GHz for the faster of the four cores. The M8 does offer the advantage of a microSD slot for adding up to 128GB of internal storage. The 2600mAh battery does a nice enough job in the M8, but the MX4 decided to go with a larger 3100mAh. Even though the M8 and MX4 are very close in size, the MX4 is only 147 grams compared to the 160 grams of the all-metal HTC One M8.
As far as features go, the M8 does have an IR Blaster, runs Android 4.4.3 (after upgrade) with Sense 6.0 and is available on all major U.S. carriers. Because the M8 has been out for a while, you can get very good pricing, especially on a two-year contract.
…And the Winner Is…a Tie
Summary
This is really a tough pick and I put it as a tie, but I am definitely leaning toward the Meizu MX4 in this comparison…other than the all-metal build, the BoomSound speakers and Sense 6.0, I really cannot really think of anywhere the M8 beats out the MX4. Okay, maybe the expandable internal memory, but if you use the cloud to store your data, the MX4 should be fine. The HTC One M8 is certainly more accessible than the China-only MX4. The displays are about the same, the processors are both fast and efficient. The 3100mAh battery is lasting a full day and a half after heavy use and the camera is certainly better than the M8’s. The MX4 does have limited availability and for repairs, the unit must be sent back to China. The earpiece and microphone for phone calls could also be better…but the quality you get for the price is remarkable.
So take your pick and let us know your choice on our Google+ Page and tell us WHY you pick one over the other…as always, we would love to hear from you.